The victim, described only as an adult Hispanic man, was riding east on Santa Ana Street at Atlantic Avenue at 11:50 am, when he made a left turn onto Atlantic Ave.
He was stuck by the driver of a 2010 Dodge Charger traveling west on Santa Ana after apparently turning into the path of the car.
He taken to a nearby hospital with a major head injury, and died following surgery.
No other information is available at this time.
A street view shows one lane in each direction on Santa Ana with a right turn lane eastbound at Atlantic, and left and right turn lanes in the opposite direction.
This is at least the 26th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 12th in LA County.
Update: The victim’s family has identified him as Bellflower resident Daniel Romero; he died just 10 days after his 23rd birthday.
The deadly 85th Percentile Rule has gone mainstream.
Credit the LA Times’ Laura Nelson for interrupting the paper’s move to El Segundo with a front page story explaining how and why speeds are set at the speed of the 15th fastest driver on the street — the 85th percentile of drivers.
To update driver speeds, city engineers visit a street in the late morning or early afternoon, park along a stretch of road without stop signs or traffic lights, and use an electronic device to measure the speeds of 100 drivers.
They rank the speeds from fastest to slowest and identify the 85th percentile — that is, the speed just below the 15th-fastest driver. City engineers use that “critical speed” as a basis for establishing a new speed limit, typically rounded to the nearest 5 mph.
Which means drivers can set the speeds with their right foots. Which is kind of like putting bank robbers in charge of security at Wells Fargo.
Although that might be an improvement over their recent scandals, but still.
Failing to conduct those surveys, or raise speeds as a result, means police officers are prohibited from using speed guns or other electronic devices to stop speeders.
And drivers can go as fast as traffic and LA’s over-engineered streets will allow.
The restrictions on police using electronic devices has coincided with a 77% drop in the number of speeding tickets written annually by the Los Angeles Police Department, from 99,333 in 2010 to 22,783 last year.
Traffic officers have been particularly hamstrung in the San Fernando Valley, where the majority of the city’s speeding tickets are written and more than 130 miles of streets carry speed enforcement restrictions, according to a Times analysis of city data.
“People are driving like maniacs on city streets,” said Dennis Zine, a former city councilman in the Valley who worked as a traffic officer. “It’s costing people their lives.”
Particularly the lives of bike riders and pedestrians.
There have been numerous failed attempts to reform the 85th Percentile Law, each dying in the legislature over fears that speeding drivers will have to slow down or get the tickets they deserve.
Which is kind of the point.
Maybe this story will finally motivate homeowners to join with bicycle and pedestrian advocate, to demand that state legislators change the law that imposes highway speeds on city streets.
And leaves far too many bodies in its wake.
Thanks to David Drexler for the heads-up.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes goes on.
Someone vandalized a pair of cyclist resting posts in Vernon, British Columbia, which position riders in the right spot to be recognized by traffic signals, and allow the rider to rest at the light without unclipping. Note: I originally wrote this as Vernon, California; thanks to Joe Linton for the correction.
The Hollywood Reporter says a backlash is brewing against e-scooters, which are being blamed for crashes and near-crashes with bicyclists and pedestrians.
A Michigan man who attempted to ride all of Route 66 in honor of his late son arrived in Santa Monica last week, raising $10,000 for pediatric cancer research.
A new 85-mile Calgary bike path connects 55 communities with over 400,000 people. And links to a 621-mile bike path network, the longest bike path network in the world.
The local newspaper says someone is going to get killed on a bikeway bypass around a temporarily closed footbridge in Ottawa, Canada; a safer plan was nixed when people signed a petition preferring parking over preventing injuries to people on bikes.
Mayor Eric Garcetti seemingly addressed street-safety concerns in his annual budget proposal, setting aside a record-high $38 million for his signature traffic program Vision Zero. Now in its third year, the ambitious plan aims to eliminate all road deaths by 2025. “Fatalities are not a tolerable byproduct of transportation,” Garcetti said when he launched Vision Zero in August 2015. “Loss of life and severe injuries resulting from traffic crashes are unacceptable outcomes that we can address.”
April’s rash of hit-and-runs, however, show how the city’s Vision Zero program has gotten off to a rough start. Despite two years of analyzing data and installing small-scale safety measures like curb extensions and high-visibility crosswalks, last year was the deadliest in more than a decade: 245 people died on L.A. streets, nearly double the year before. More than 60 percent were hit and killed while walking or riding a bike—a 5 percent increase from when Vision Zero began.
The story looks at the power of LA city councilmembers to halt traffic safety projects in their districts, and the bikelash from angry drivers that forced the removal of bike lanes in Playa del Rey. As well as cowing councilmembers into canceling planned bike lanes in their districts.
And how Frederick “Woon” Frazier paid the price, killed by a hit-and-run driver on Manchester Blvd where a bike lane was supposed to be stripped, but wasn’t.
The piece also quotes yours truly and other LA bike advocates. But you’ll have to read it to see what we said.
Never mind that they are also the nation’s two most populous cities, with a relatively high rate of bicycling. And would likely rank significantly lower if the study considered bicycling fatalities on a per capita basis.
Photo of Frederick “Woon” Frazier, killed in a hit-and-run on Manchester Blvd, where plans called for a bike lane as part of the Vision Zero High Injury Network.
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The LA River bike path will be closed until 2 pm tomorrow as a result of Wednesday’s thunderstorms.
It rained so the #LARiver path is now closed for 3 days. We need a practical river path that won’t be closed during a rain. We need the new design of the river to address this
My Figueroa looks at some of the connections the new protected bikeway will make possible.
MyFig is connecting many existing and planned transit options, bike facilities, and iconic destinations. @LADOTofficial has been working to balance the efficiency for all of those uses on MyFig. Check out some of the transpo options and destinations that MyFig connects! pic.twitter.com/zXPz4MHNa7
San Clemente commissioners delay a vote to allow ebikes on beach trails, while voting to require bike riders to walk across bridges, and limiting bikes to 6 mph on trails less than 10 feet wide.
This is how you invite bike tourism. Arizona unveils a user-friendly, statewide online bike map, showing local bikeways as well as the 573-mile section of US Bicycle Route 90 through the state.
A member of the Moscow city council — no, the one in Idaho — just finished a 4,300 mile ride across the US following the Trans Am Bike Race route; he’s also the owner of the Hog Heaven Sausage Works.
Philadelphia is the latest city to embrace human protected bike lanes to call attention to the need for safer infrastructure. Which have yet to make an appearance here in Los Angeles, on either count.
Self recommends 12 international bicycling destinations you’ll want to add to your bike bucket list. I can personally attest to the second one, which travels over new trails through some of the most beautiful country in the US.
Police in the UK use an undercover officer on a bicycle equipped with cameras and distance sensors to catch drivers violating the country’s 1.5-meter safe passing distance, the equivalent of a five foot law here. We’ve repeatedly asked the LAPD to conduct similar operations, pointing out that distance sensors are now readily available. But no luck so far.
An Oslo study shows 45 minutes of bicycling can help ward off Type 2 diabetes, and ebikes could be key to helping people ride enough to protect their health. Although I put in over ten times that much every week for 30 years, and it didn’t do me a damn bit of good.
Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali, who finished fourth last year, is also out after falling as a result of a crash between police motos; remarkably, he finished just 13 seconds behind the winner on the legendary Alpe d’Huez despite riding with a fractured vertebrae.
Note: Due to this death in Perris last week, and Monday’s fatality in El Cajon, there won’t be any Morning Links today. We’ll catch up on everything tomorrow.
Somehow, we missed this one last weekend.
According to the Riverside County News Source, a bike rider was killed in a pre-dawn collision in Perris Friday morning.
He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died of his injuries.
A street view shows northbound Perris Blvd has two through lanes, with a right turn bay and double left turn lanes; the southbound side has three through lanes with both left and right turn lanes.
There’s no word on which direction Otiz was traveling, or which party had the right-of-way. Either Otiz or the unidentified driver had to have gone through the red light, although it’s possible the light could have changed while he was crossing the wide intersection before he could get to the other side.
Police do not suspect that drugs or alcohol played a role in the collision.
This is at least the 25th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the fourth that I’m aware of in Riverside County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Raul Sangerman Otiz and all his loved ones.
Note: Due to tonight’s breaking news, and the discovery of another fatal bike crash in Perris last week, there won’t be any Morning Links today. We’ll catch up on everything tomorrow.
An El Cajon bike rider died after being stuck by the driver of a pickup Monday night.
Yet somehow, the San Diego paper managed to wait until the second sentence before blaming the victim.
That means either the victim or the driver went through the red light; the way the Union-Tribune’s story is written, it implies that Wilcox was at fault. However, there is nothing in the coroner’s press release to suggest that.
The statement that the driver was traveling at a high rate of speed also suggests he was exceeding the 45 mph speed limit.
It should be noted that few homeless people have, let alone use, bike helmets. And even the best bike helmet won’t prevent injuries to other parts of the body; a high-speed collision with a truck is unlikely to be survivable, with or without one.
This is at least the 24th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the fourth that I’m aware of in San Diego County. It’s also the second in El Cajon in the last three months.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Jason Wilcox and all his loved ones.
“We stopped to regroup and he came out of the woods to greet us. He was really thin, ribs showing and had a lot of road rash and a broken leg,” Little told CBS News. He says he and the other cyclists fed the dog and gave him water, but knew they couldn’t leave the dog in the woods. Little didn’t have a car to transport him, just a bike. So he hoisted the pup onto his back, and rode into town looking for help.
“Right when we returned to my local bike shop to get him some more water and food, we instantly ran into Mrs. Andrea who was in town from Maine,” Little said. “She decided to keep him and get him checked out medically.” Little says Shaw took the dog off his hands, and not only got him medical help, but a new home.
And if you look closely, you can see the dog’s feet inside his jersey pocket, answering the question of how he did it.
Speaking of LA’s failure to fix the streets, the city is hiring a $250,000 consultant to suggest fixes to gridlock and the embarrassment of seeing homeless people that could keep tourists away. I could do that for half the price, since we already know the solutions — house the homeless, and build out the bike plan and improve bus service to give people safe alternatives to driving.
Malibu Magazineexamines the coast’s killer highway, as PCH cuts a swath of destruction through the city that effects everyone, regardless of how they travel.
Yosemite struggles with how to manage the daily crush of cars choking the nation’s premier national park. The obvious solution is to ban private vehicles entirely, which don’t belong in a natural setting like that in the first place.
Let’s conclude our visit to Seattle with a letter from a Lycra-wearing menace who says don’t honk and yell if you’re angry at bicyclists, demand contiguous, protected bicycle lanes instead.
This is why people continue to die on our streets. An Idaho man was sentenced to up to 30 year behind bars for his sixth DUI offense, while he was still on probation for his fifth violation. Seriously, it shouldn’t take six strikes and you’re out before the courts finally decide to do something. A second offense should result in jail time and a lifetime driving ban.
The family of a Minnesota man killed in a Kansas collision while competing in this year’s cross-country Trans Am Bike Race asks drivers to pay attention to the road.
A Rochester, New York public safety campaign currently under production swathed a pedestrian in bubble wrap and wrapped a bicyclist in Christmas lights to show how far vulnerable road users have to go to be noticed.
Baltimore uses water-filled K-rails to create an instant road diet and barrier-protected bike lane across a dangerous bridge. Proving that it is possible to create an inexpensive temporary, removable pilot project without going through the endless public meetings required for a permanent installation. Then making it permanent once it proves successful.
A New Zealand website talks with The Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan about his documentary retracing the route of the first English-speaking team to compete in the Tour de France, in 1924
Rouleurremembers Fabio Casartelli, the last cyclist to die in the Tour de France, killed by crashing head-first into a concrete barrier while descending the Col de Portet d’Aspet in 1995.
Thanks to John Hall for his continued support of this site. It’s the ongoing generosity of readers like him that allows me to bring you SoCal’s best bike news every morning.
According to researchers, part of the problem stems from the fact that many deaths never get reported by the news media. And those that do are often misrepresented by the police and press.
That’s a problem we’ve seen too many times with bicycling crashes, when the police are quick to blame the victim, only to reverse themselves later.
Or too often not, leaving it up to the victims’ families and their lawyers to correct their mistakes.
And the public usually never hears about it.
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Then there’s this video forwarded by Eric Lewis of a near sideswipe collision captured on his new bike cam.
Which is a perfect candidate for the new #NearMissLA hashtag.
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There may be action taken to stop cab drivers from parking in the new bike lanes on Figueroa, and elsewhere, after all.
As a result of a recent flurry of tweets and videos showing the blocked bike lane, the LA Taxi Commission has proposed a new order prohibiting taxis from blocking bike lanes.
Trek is forming a new women’s team headed by former world champion — and expecting mother — Lizzie Deignan. Another women’s team is great, as long as they pay them what the men make, which is highly unlikely. And get them some TV coverage so people might actually be able to watch for a change.
Decades of relatively easy bike access to Camp Pendleton is coming to a close.
According to an email from Major Chad David Walton, anyone wanting to ride the popular cycling route through the Camp Pendleton Marine base will now need to register with the new Department of Defense Biometric Identification System.
And it will have to be done on the base at Pendleton, not online as has been the case in the last few years.
The passes will be valid for one year, and good for one adult only; you can bring a minor with you to bike on the Marine base, but no adult guests will be allowed to enter Pendleton without their own pass.
If you have a current pass, it will be good through September.
After that, you may have to enlist if you want to ride through Camp Pendleton without one.
Thanks to Richard Masoner and David Drexler for the heads-up.
Photo of Retired U.S. Marine Corps Master Sgt. Fernando Andrade by Lance Cpl. Dalton Swanbeck.
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This is why you should register your bike with Bike Index.
Full disclosure — I don’t get a dime from Bike Index for hosting or promoting their site. I just hate bike thieves, and want to see every bike find it’s way back home.
I don't know who this guest is, but watch what happens when he tries all his boring anti-cyclist garbage on the brilliant @BBCNaga of @BBCBreakfastpic.twitter.com/v3TkUPdoJn
OMG! Some people in San Diego are using bikeshare bikes and e-scooters to commit crimes. Sort of like they use personal bikes, skateboards, cars, feet, rental cars, horses, and any other form of human conveyance.
Sad news from Santa Cruz, as a long-time bike rider was killed in a collision while riding across a bridge. Naturally, police blame the victim, insisting he somehow veered into traffic, which usually means the driver didn’t see him until it was too late; something that happens so often it’s commonly called a SWSS, or Single Witness Suicide Swerve
A Denver man is using his bicycle to rebuild his life, commuting 20 miles a day to classes after becoming homeless following a car crash; now he’s preparing for a 120-mile ride over three high mountain passes.
Colorado’s new Idaho Stop law could lead to confusion — and tickets — since it leaves implementation to local communities; as a result, it could be legal to ride through a stop sign on one side of an intersection, and illegal on the other.
Kentucky becomes the latest state to adopt a three-foot passing law; 35 states now require at least a three-foot distance to pass someone on a bicycle.
Talk about not getting it. Newport RI officials want the state Department of Transportation to improve safety on a major street, while backing off from plans to install a bike lane and new turning lanes — and making it safer for pedestrians by removing a crosswalk. Sure, that will work.
A British writer raises a good point, asking if there’s a class divide in cycling, as rising equipment cost separate riders into those who can afford the best gear, and those who can’t. Or who just get turned off by the perception of high cost, and don’t bother trying.
Competitive Cycling
If you haven’t caught up on your Tour de France viewing, skip this next section. We could say the same about the Giro Rosa, except no one bothers to broadcast women’s bike racing.
Lawson “Crash” Craddock has now raised over $92,000 for a Houston Velodrome by riding in the Tour with a broken scapula; no word yet on whether he survived Sunday’s cobbles.
Curbedoffers a preview of the CicLAvia event, which celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, culminating in a free concert at the Hollywood Bowl.
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CiclaValley provides a 45-second update on the parking problems on the new MyFigueroa bike lane.
Apparently speaking from beyond the grave after being run over by bike riders three times, a New Jersey letter writer says his town shouldn’t encourage more bicycling because of the “mayhem” caused by “psycho” cyclists, even though he swears he rides one himself.
No windshield bias here. A DC writer complains about five types of “smug-ass” people who need to “cut the shit.” Needless to say, bike riders are number one on his list, for the apparently unforgivable crime of acting like bikes are cars, which is exactly what bike riders are supposed to do; number two are pedestrians in crosswalks who don’t get the hell out of his way fast enough.
Then again, he also seems to be okay with undertaking a semi while it’s making a right turn, which should tell you something.
I confess to slapping a few fenders when drivers drifted into my lane, or right hooked me without appearing to even know I was there.
But I stopped several years ago, after a driver got out of his car and beat a pianist to death in Hollywood when the victim slapped the hood of his car for encroaching on the crosswalk.
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Local
LAist gets it. A piece by KPCC’s Meghan McCarthy Carino says nothing can fix LA traffic, so deal with it. The simple fact is, traffic in Los Angeles right now is as good as it will ever be; the only option is to provide safe, efficient alternatives to convince people to leave their cars at home.
San Jose business owners become just the latest to fight a proposed bikeway, fearing it will be bad for business. Even though study after study shows just the opposite.
A British Columbia bike rider is using shadows on a straight, flat highway in Saskatchewan to prove the Earth isn’t flat. Because one more proof should be enough to convince all the flat Earthers, even though all the many others haven’t done the job yet.
A Welsh judge has ordered a new trial in the death of British Olympic hero Chris Boardman’s bike-riding mother; in addition to the crash, the driver and his wife are accused of deleting cellphone data to cover up their actions.
A Dublin teenager has been jailed for one year for terrorizing bike riders on a canal pathway; he was part of a group that chased riders and strung rope across the trail in an effort to knock people off their bikes.
I’ve spent this week caring for a very sick dog, who’s felt an urgent need to rush outside every few hours since Sunday night. And too often hasn’t made it in time.
As a result, neither of us has gotten much sleep.
The good news is, she’s doing better after getting an IV from the vet yesterday. And we’ve both been passed out ever since we got back home.
So I’m taking today off to get some desperately needed rest. As always, we’ll be back tomorrow to catch up on everything we missed.
She should be back to her usual rambunctious self in a few day.
